"Holy crap! Gorehowl to the face! Han-God is... eternal!"
The hysterical roaring from Old Chen in the opposite bunk woke Xu Xing from a deep sleep.
Xu Xing climbed up from his bed and looked over at Old Chen, wondering why his usually calm and steady roommate was acting like a lunatic.
"That was a textbook execution! Absolute perfection!"
Old Chen's computer screen was replaying a "historic" winning moment—a Chinese player known as "Han-God," piloting a Warrior, was wielding a [Gorehowl] and smashing it directly into the opposing Jaina's face, dealing the final blow.
Bullet comments rolled across the screen like a tsunami, all reading: [World's Number One Weapon Warrior!] [Textbook Gorehowl Management!]
Xu Xing squinted, his brain a bit fuzzy.
Since when was his roommate, who usually only played mobile MOBAs, so fanatical about Hearthstone?
And... for such a mediocre play?
"Damn, I always thought that broken axe was just for clearing the board. I didn't know you could use it for lethal."
On the bunk across the aisle, "Blondie" suddenly sat up, his eyes glued to his phone screen. "You have to admire Han-God's understanding of the game. It's truly world-class."
"Holy cow! That's too fierce!" In the bunk below Blondie, Fatty Zhou was so excited his flesh was trembling. "No way, I have to get one of those!"
"Too late!"
Old Chen held up his phone, the screen displaying a bold breaking news alert:
[Stonebrew Auction House Just Sold: Epic Card "Gorehowl" for 100,000 Dust!]
"One hundred thousand?!"
Fatty Zhou's voice went up an octave, filled with disbelief. "Wasn't the starting bid only forty thousand? Are these people crazy?!"
Xu Xing was getting more confused by the second. An auction house selling Hearthstone cards? One Epic card selling for a hundred thousand?
Then wouldn't his own account, which had almost a full collection, be worth an astronomical figure?
Full of doubt, he climbed down the ladder and walked behind Old Chen to look at the computer screen.
The scene had cut to the commentary desk. Two commentators in suits wore grave expressions, analyzing the play with a strictly professional and solemn tone:
"Please pay attention here. After equipping Gorehowl, Han-God made an extremely bold and precise decision—he chose not to clear Mike's Dire Wolf Alpha. Instead, he keenly calculated that his board damage plus the seven damage from Gorehowl was exactly enough for lethal! This kind of macro awareness and mental calculation... he is truly a master of the Professional 9th Dan..."
"Wait... 9th Dan? No, what the hell is a Dan in Hearthstone?"
Xu Xing felt his temples throbbing. Everything he was seeing exceeded his understanding of the world.
"Did I... transmigrate? Is this still my world?"
Xu Xing was bewildered.
In his original world, this calculation was basic arithmetic within twenty that a primary school student could do instantly. Here, it was being placed on a pedestal, analyzed as "top-tier understanding."
The camera panned to the defeated American player, Mike. He was sweating profusely, unwillingly punching numbers into a calculator, checking the math over and over.
When the camera showcased Han-God's deck, Xu Xing's pupils suddenly contracted.
That deck... ran two copies of [Acidic Swamp Ooze].
The problem was, his opponent Mike was playing Mage. Mages don't have weapons. Rather than a tech choice, it looked more like he was fighting against his own deck efficiency.
"Right, right, right!"
Fatty Zhou seemed to remember something. He frantically dug out an unopened card pack from his locker. It looked exquisite, like expensive merchandise.
"This is an Expert Card Pack. There's a 2% chance for an Epic. If... if I open a Gorehowl..."
His hands shook like he was defusing C4 explosives as he tore it open.
"Common... useless. Common again... useless. This one too... useless! I got something!!"
On the fifth and final card, Fatty Zhou let out a massive cheer.
Xu Xing and the other two leaned in curiously.
"Oh... wait, no, no, no! Aiyah!"
Fatty Zhou's cheer instantly turned into a wail of despair. He stared at the card he just revealed, afraid to touch it.
It was a [Defender of Argus].
The craftsmanship of the card was excellent, and the texture looked unique.
"I thought it was something good," Blondie glanced at it once and lay back down, losing interest. "Turns out it's this trash card. 4 Mana 2/3 stats? Gives adjacent minions +1/+1 and Taunt? If you don't have two minions on the board, it's a huge loss. Even if you do, it's just breaking even. Feels worse than a Chillwind Yeti."
Fatty Zhou's face turned black as the bottom of a pot. He flicked his hand, and the [Defender of Argus] vanished into thin air.
Xu Xing didn't notice this supernatural phenomenon immediately.
"My Expert Pack... gone, just like that..."
Old Chen smacked his lips in disappointment and returned to his seat to rewatch the "Godly Play."
"Th... that pack cost me three months of scrimping and saving! I spent a full four thousand bucks on it!" Fatty Zhou's voice trembled, on the verge of tears.
Defender of Argus... isn't that card really strong? It buffs and gives taunt, offering both offense and defense... Xu Xing muttered internally.
His gaze swept over the other four "useless cards" Fatty Zhou had tossed on the table.
One [Ironbeak Owl]—the pre-nerf 2-Mana version. One [Wrath]. Two [Loot Hoarders]. These were all top-tier cards.
They must be new players if they don't understand the power of these cards. But why are they buying physical cards? Is this for offline play? If so, I'm about to crush them with a dimensionality reduction strike.
Xu Xing thought to himself, then asked aloud, "Since when did you guys get so into Hearthstone? Buying physical cards and everything, acting like it's real life."
"Are you serious, Xu Xing?"
Blondie sat up in bed again, staring at him like he was an idiot. "Did you sleep your brain away? Who doesn't play Hearthstone? Besides, we're majors in the 'Deck Construction' department! Why would we pick this major if we didn't play?"
Old Chen also cast a suspicious look.
"Exactly. And don't you know our rank? Didn't we lose the rank-up tournament together last time? We've been stuck at Amateur 2nd Dan for almost a year! We're juniors now. If we don't hit Amateur 3rd Dan, graduating is going to be a problem!"
Xu Xing had absolutely no memory of this, but to avoid blowing his cover, he laughed it off. "Oh, right, right. Slept too hard, still groggy, haha..."
Xu Xing was now certain. He had transmigrated. He was in a parallel world where everyone played Hearthstone, and Hearthstone was supreme.
A thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
Xu Xing suddenly began rummaging through his desk and locker.
If everyone played Hearthstone, he should have cards too. But no matter where he looked, he couldn't find any container for cards.
"What are you looking for? Are you possessed?" Fatty Zhou looked at Xu Xing in confusion.
"Why don't I have any cards? Do you know where my cards are?"
"Huh? Aren't they in your Card Device? Did you seriously forget even that? No way, we need to take you to see a shaman or something. You're acting too weird."
Xu Xing finally noticed he was wearing a bracelet on his left wrist. It was made of alloy, scratched up and mottled, its original color faded.
This was the unique "Card Device" of this world. It was a symbol of identity and a terminal for storing and summoning cards.
Suddenly, fragments of memory flooded into Xu Xing's brain. With a slight thought, a card appeared out of thin air in his hand.
[Sen'jin Shieldmasta]. 4 Mana, 3/5 Taunt.
Taz'dingo? Too classic, Xu Xing lamented in his heart.
He focused his mind again, and the card collection interface from his previous life's Hearthstone appeared before his eyes.
Sure enough, it was mostly Basic cards. Rare cards were few and far between, and even the Common cards weren't complete.
He flipped through it several times. Let alone Legendary cards, he didn't even see a shadow of an Epic card. The card pool was limited to the Classic set, with no expansion content.
Looks like it's the state of the game during open beta. And... I am seriously poor.
Xu Xing sighed in disappointment and selected a deck named "Rank Up Tournament Use - Druid."
Retracting his thoughts, the vision of the dorm returned, and he was holding a deck of cards in his hand.
"My favorite episode." Xu Xing smirked slightly, but his smile froze the moment he saw the specific build.
The deck was stuffed with [Claw], [Moonfire], and even [Bluegill Warrior]—low-cost direct damage cards that completely deviated from the essence of Druid: ramping mana to play big threats.
"What is this gutter oil trash... I have to change it!" Xu Xing frowned and got to work immediately.
One by one, he pulled the existing cards out of the deck and returned them to the Card Device, then rapidly flipped through his collection pages.
If you play Druid, you have to maximize the class identity.
[Innervate], [Wild Growth]—ramp cards are a must. Two copies of each.
[Wrath], [Swipe]—premium removal. Two copies of each.
When he found two copies of [Nourish], his eyes lit up, and he shoved them into the deck without hesitation.
However, as the construction deepened, a problem arose—he really couldn't find any quality high-cost minions.
One cannot make bricks without straw. Forced by circumstance, he had to stuff in [Stormwind Champion], [Lord of the Arena], and [Ironbark Protector]—high-cost vanilla cards with decent stats—just to fill the slots.
"Sigh, too few cards. I'll just have to make do with this for now." Xu Xing looked at this barely formed prototype of a "Ramp Druid" and sighed helplessly.
"Xu Xing, you finished building?"
Blondie, who had been leaning on his bed watching Xu Xing's strange behavior, jumped down eagerly when he saw Xu Xing stop.
"You haven't touched that deck in two years. Did the sun rise from the west today? Come on, come on, I'll help you test the new deck!"
Although the deck is makeshift, I do need actual combat to test it, Xu Xing thought, accepting the challenge.
"Sure. How do we do this?"
"Let's go to the Card Arena."
Blondie waved his hand and led the way out of the dorm.
"Hey, wait for me!" Fatty Zhou scrambled to catch up.
Old Chen thought for a moment, turned off his computer, and followed Xu Xing and the others to the Card Arena.
Xu Xing followed them to the familiar gymnasium—which now had a sign hanging at the entrance: "University Card Arena."
Inside, rows of specialized tables were arranged.
Blondie walked familiarly to an empty table and gestured for Xu Xing to sit opposite him.
Xu Xing sat down and observed the table carefully.
The surface was clearly marked with zones: "Deck Zone," "Minion Zone," "Hero Zone," etc. In the center was a special projection area.
"Let's start." Blondie took his deck from his wristband and placed it in the "Deck Zone" in front of him.
"Okay."
As soon as Xu Xing placed his deck, the center of the table lit up, and a holographic projection emerged—a giant coin was tossed high into the air, spinning as it rose.
"I choose Heads!" Blondie shouted.
The coin fell and settled—Heads up.
"Yes! I go first!"
A confident smile appeared on Blondie's face as he drew his starting hand.
"Prepare to witness my 'Lethal Tempo'!"